Tim Tebow's John 3:16 Game

Here's a story of a scripture and a quarterback. John 3:16 and Tim Tebow.

You know how football players sometimes put some paint under their eyes to shelter their eyes from the glare of the lights? Well, back in college while at Florida,  in the BSC championship game in 2009, quarterback Tim Tebow had "John" written under the right eye and "3:16" under the left eye.

You probably know what John 3:16 says, but if you don't: "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Well, Timmy is now a Denver Bronco, and has enjoyed one of the most legendary seasons a player could have. The Broncos were 1-4 when Tebow became the starter. He immediately engineered an overtime victory.

Thus was the beginning of what has come to be known as "Tebow Time." The Broncos got stomped the following week, but then reeled off six straight wins. Two of the wins came in overtime. During this stretch, Tebow had one of the worst quarterback ratings among starters -- but if you just took the fourth quarter, he had the third-best rating of all.

And, all the time, Tebow was giving thanks to God. He would go down on one knee and thank the Lord after . . . well, I don't know if it was after every touchdown, because I don't watch football, but he did it a lot.

The act of going down on one knee to pray has become know as  "Tebowing."

Well, I have saved the best of this story for last. Hope you're still around. Last week, was another overtime victory, except this time it came in the playoffs. Timmy tossed an 80-yard touchdown strike just 11 seconds into the overtime, bringing to close the shortest overtime in NFL playoff history with the longest pass in NFL playoff history.

Quite a legend, this Tim Tebow.

But here's the part I should have started with, instead of stuffing it way down here in our story: Remember John 3:16? Well, Tebow passed for 316 yards, and since he completed just 10 passes, that's 31.6 yards per completion. The man who caught the winning 80-yard toss, Demaryius Thomas, was born on Christmas Day. One more: The final 15 minutes of the game enjoyed an overnight rating of 31.6.

Now, I could leave the story there, without commentary . . . and looking at the clock, I think I shall. I may come back and add the commentary later, maybe even rewriting the story so the best part is at the start, where it belongs. But must go to bed for now.

Before closing, the Broncs did lose today, and Tebow was but 9-26, I believe. But John 3:16 still made it into the game, Focus on the Family putting an advertisement on featuring children quoting John 3:16.